Petuniaxc3x97hybrida cultivar Kercan.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Petunia plant, botanically known as Petuniaxc3x97hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Kercan.
The new Petunia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Over, Cambridge, United Kingdom. The objective of the breeding program is to create new cascading Petunias with numerous double flowers with attractive flower colors.
The new Petunia originated from a cross made by the Inventor in August, 1998 of an unidentified proprietary seedling selection of Petunia with single flowers, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unidentified proprietary seedling selection of Petunia with salmon pink-colored flowers, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Petunia was selected as a single plant from the resulting progeny in July, 1999 in Over, Cambridge, United Kingdom on the basis of its double and numerous red purple-colored flowers.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal vegetative cuttings since August, 1999, taken in Over, Cambridge, United Kingdom has shown that the unique features of this new Petunia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Kercan have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and daylength without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Kercanxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Kercanxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Outwardly spreading, cascading and uniform plant habit.
2, Compact growth habit.
3. Early flowering habit.
4. Numerous large double flowers that are red purple in color.
5. Good garden performance.
Plants of the new Petunia differ from plants of the female parent, an unidentified red purple-colored single-flowered selection, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Petunia are more compact and not as pendulous as plants of the female parent.
2. Plants of the new Petunia have larger flowers than plants of the female parent.
3. Plants of the new Petunia have double flowers whereas plants of the female parent have single flowers.
Plants of the new Petunia differ from plants of the male parent, an unidentified salmon pink-colored double-flowered Petunia selection, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Petunia are more cascading and not as upright as plants of the male parent.
2. Plants of the new Petunia have red purple-colored flowers whereas plants of the male parent have salmon pink-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Petunia can be compared to plants of the cultivar Cobink, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,012. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Over, Cambridge, United Kingdom, plants of the new Petunia differed from plants of the cultivar Cobink in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Petunia had smaller and paler green-colored foliage than plants of the cultivar Cobink.
2. Plants of the new Petunia flowered about five days earlier than plants of the cultivar Cobink.
3. Plants of the new Petunia had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Cobink.
4. Flower color of plants of the new Petunia was more uniform than flower color of plants of the cultivar Cobink.
5. Plants of the new Petunia had larger sepals than plants of the cultivar Cobink.